This article examines the influence of context on student writing and discusses how the author used one methodology, problem-based learning, to foster more contextualized writing practice in ninth-grade English classes. Both research and practical experience suggest that students can benefit from writing practice contextualized within specific,…

The Drive to Write program was organized by New Visions for Public Schools (a New York City school support network that helps schools with professional development, data infrastructure, leadership training, certification, and more), and New Visions hopes it will lead to a new standard in writing instruction and student learning. New Visions is…

This article presents an authentic writing opportunity to help ninth-grade students use the writing process in a science classroom to write and illustrate picture books for fourth-grade students to demonstrate and share their understanding of a biology unit on cells. By creating a picture book, students experience the writing process, understand…

Structured opportunities for reflective writing allow students to polish their writings and to reflect actively on their written creations, while encouraging clearer and more honest writing products. In addition, the use of reflective writing can transform students as they begin to incorporate metacognition, or thinking about their thinking, into…

This article presents a story about eighty-six ninth-grade World History and Geography students who authored a "how-to" book, while pretending that they were experts who lived in the past and had to explain how to do something relating to that time period. These students attended a large high school in the Midwest; the school's…

This article describes a writing partnership that involved university preservice teachers and ninth grade students enrolled in an integrated social studies/language arts class. While the high school students found the experience exciting and satisfying, the preservice teachers expressed anxieties and concerns as they endeavored to foster academic…

In this article, the author shares how she envisioned and created a writing assignment for a ninth-grade English course. The writing project is a class novel comprised of short stories, one written by each student. In the writing assignment, seniors compile their favorite writings from any class in any year of high school and write reflections…

Describes a 9th grade required course, Social Issues, and a related writing assignment. Students investigated an issue of personal interest to them and produced a paper with reflective and analytical writing. Six girls sparked a critical comprehension of reality. Data from interviews, focus groups, and papers indicated that the project enhanced…

Presents a dialog among three English teachers concerning teaching performance poetry to ninth graders. (RS)

Describes an assignment in which ninth graders created a storybook or a textbook for children in grades 4-6 that would link 4 core subjects: math, English, science, and anthropology. (SR)

Provides an outline for teachers who wish to incorporate a Letter to the Editor project in their classroom assignments. Reprints some actual letters from ninth graders based on this assignment. (MG)

Student teaching in New York City on September 11, 2001, forced the author to scrap her carefully planned lessons. Instead, she designed a unit to address the urgent needs of the ninth graders in her care. In this article, the author describes the poetry unit she designed to help students deal with the grieving process and allow them a way to talk…

Provides details of a mock town meeting (using the warrant prepared for the town's real town meeting) which was planned and conducted by ninth grade students. Includes a project evaluation. (PRA)

Describes a ninth-grade class project where students were asked to recall a specific sense memory involving smell and foods. They wrote a brief narrative reflecting on the experience and created a recipe card for the food. These were combined with a pictorial representation of the food for a final project. (MJP)